


The sky over Cipritine

by milkyquartz



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Battle of Palaven, Gen, Reapers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-04-17 22:38:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4683932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkyquartz/pseuds/milkyquartz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Reaper invasion has begun, and the shadow of war is upon the turian homeworld.<br/>This story narrates the battle for Palaven from the point of view of Solana Vakarian and her father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cipritine shone like a silver maze under the blazing splendour of Trebia.

“Have you heard, Solana? The Batarian are flooding through the Harsa relay. Saying they've been attacked.” said Galverus Vakarian, sipping his morning cup of kovis.

His daughter Solana glanced up from the stack of reports she was reading. “By who? The humans?”.

“Spirits, no! That would mean open war. Some of the refugees say it was the geth, some even the rachni. And there's always a good pocket of conspiracy theorists who blame it on the Council. Ha! Batarians are bad losers, let me tell you. Back when I was running my own operations with C-Sec..”

“Yes, yes, father. You kept them in line and taught them some respect.” she replied, turning back to her reports for a moment. But the news coming out of the flat speakers set on either side of the holo-screen were disturbing enough to keep her from concentrating again.

 

“ _All report that the enemy, in whatever form, is blockading the relay, destroying most spacecraft trying to make it through_.”

 

“It's...it's quite terrible, I have to say.” muttered Galverus, turning the sound off, and gulping down the dregs from his cup.

“I thought you hated batarians to bits” remarked Solana. Her tone was light and casual, but her subvocals trembled with apprehension.

“Well, not enough to wish to see their homeworld bombed and their entire race forced into exodus. It's awful.” he stood up and looked out from the tall window of their airy but austere home.

“Who do you think is responsible for this atrocity?” asked Solana, setting aside her work for good.

“I think it's the Reapers. You've heard what Garrus said months ago. I believed him then and I believe him now. There's a threat out there we're severely underestimating.” he said defiantly.

Solana sighed:”I do believe him too. He'd never lie about something like this. And I don't think he's misguided or mad. But a race of sentient machines that roots out organic life every 50'000 years is a bit...a bit much to take in, isn't it?”.

“It is, but refusing to face the evidence and burying our heads in the sand like the Council is doing at the moment won't slow them down.” Galverus retorted angrily. 

His daughter's face was still and white like a mask, and the blue of her markings stood out even more against her stone-like plates. 

“If it's like you say, and the Batarian Hegemony has been hit by Reapers...” Solana hesitated for a moment, then exhaled sharply:”Then we must prepare. Be it for evacuation or for war, we must prepare.”.

Galverus looked at her intently, and saw the steel of turian pride under the veil of fear. He softened a little:”You're right, Solana. Of course you are. We'll talk about it with Garrus when he comes home. We won't be caught off guard, don't worry.”.

The sky outside was a pale shade of green. 

Solana sat down in silence.

“Maybe it's not the Reapers after all. Maybe it's just terrorists. Or pirates? Maybe both. Maybe I'm just an old fool, and there's nothing we should worry about.” he said, and tried to smile, but the spring in his voice sounded fake, and his mandibles felt rigid.

 


	2. Chapter 2

They watched the speech in silence. The solemn frame of Primarch Fedorian filled the screen. His voice didn't betray the shadow of a doubt.

The Reapers had invaded Taetrus, comm buoys had gone dark around Mactare.

War was upon the turian.

 

“ _They have attacked our kin and so it is war with them. War until victory. War however long and hard the road may be. War until they can never threaten us again.”_

 

Galverus stood with his mandibles clenched so tightly to his jaws they almost hurt.

“He was right. Idiots. I was right.” he kept whispering below his breath, while Solana sat with her back straight and her talons sank into the palms of her hands.

 

“But you said you would come home before shipping out again!” exclaimed Solana to her omni-tool.

“Sol, listen, I know what I said but it doesn't change the fact that I have orders. I can't come back to Cipritine, not even for a night. It's-” the voice of her brother came out a little distorted, but sounded very tired nonetheless.

“..it's classified. I know it's for the Reapers. I understand.” and she let out a soft sigh. “I just thought we could have dinner together, with dad too.”.

“We can do that as soon as I'm done with this” said Garrus, reassuringly. “Next time I ship out I'll take you with me, and if we bump into any ancient horde of sentient machines you can bore them into extinction by reading your monthly report on basic security measures in public schools...”

“Garrus I swear you are no brother of mine! How can I be related to such an idiot?” Solana laughed heartily.

Garrus chuckled softly on the other side. He knew how hard it was to make her laugh.

A small, comfortable silence lingered for a few moments, before Solana said:”Just be safe, ok? And don't play the Spectre out there.”.

“You know me, I'm always one for a daring escapade, I cannot promise you anything..”

“Garrus. Don't you dare.”. She sounded very serious now. Her subvocals were leaden with worry.

“I'll be fine. I'll be in touch when I can. Bye, Sol.”.

He didn't leave her the time to say anything.

 

“Garrus won't be home for dinner, father. He's already off-world.” she dryly told Galverus, briskly setting the table for two.

He said nothing, and continued to stare at a list he was compiling on a pad.

 

News of the attempt to liberate Taetrus started to pour in within days.

The broadcasters tried to tone down the magnitude of the situation, but it was clear enough that the turians were losing ground at a desperate speed.The Reapers were cutting through the mightiest fleet of the galaxy with the arrogant ease of an enemy well aware of its superiority.

The Mactare relay was impossible to retake, and though the bulk of the Hierarchy's military force still stood in Palaven space, it was ready to depart at a moment's notice.

Solana found Galverus feverishly shoving small tin boxes in the cases strapped to his old C-Sec armor. “Father, what are you doing? I thought we agreed on packing just the essentials, in case the evacuation order comes in.” she asked standing in the doorway with her arms folded.

“I'm not evacuating, Solana. I might be retired, but I'm still an officer. I'm not running away from my home. I'm staying, I'm fighting, I'm doing what I must.” he replied. He mulishly refused to stop his preparations, but avoided her gaze.

Solana looked at her father. He suddenly seemed old, much older than she ever thought of him.

For a moment she did not see the ex C-Sec, the strict father, a figure that commanded respect. She saw an old turian, clutching at the few certainties he had in the face of an ominous future: a gun, his past, his own stubbornness.

But it was just a fleeting impression. When he stood up and finally looked at her he was as resolute as ever.

He thought she was going to yell at him, lose her temper, beg him to evacuate.

Her reaction took him by surprise:”Very well. I hope you've got ammunitions for two.” she just said, calmly.

Galverus felt proud.

 

None of them would have been able to describe the noise that followed.

A growl, a thunder, the low, loud hum of a million engines. And then, explosions in the distance.

They ran to the window: the overcast sky was being pierced by black hulls beyond counting, that descended like a swarm of six legged, gargantuan insects.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Gunfire started within a minute.

But it wasn't the sound, familiar to every turian, of standard issue weaponry. Enemy fire then, with no response yet.   
Galverus hurriedly grabbed his rifle and threw a pack of thermal clips to his daughter. She was clutching the modest Haliat Armory Stiletto she had picked up from the equipment strewn all over the bed, alongside a handful of nutrient paste rations.   
“Grab a knife too, Solana, and all the clips you can carry.” the older turian said peeking out of the window. He thought he could see movement a block away, but he wasn't sure.   
Solana did her best to strap a twelve-inch blade to her right boot, but now that the fight was getting close and she could smell danger in the immobile air her fingers felt slow and clumsy.   
She managed to secure it after a few tries, and then she darted back to her father's room to hoard clips.   
She found a belt already packed, so she put it on quickly and looked around in search of something else worth taking with her.   
Medigel, yes, this was useful, a spare power cell for Galverus' kinetic barriers. Where did he keep all this stuff? How long has he been preparing? She didn't want to know.

When she got back to the living room, Galverus was still crouching beside the window, keeping an eye on the street below.  
“Anything out there?” she asked, hunkering down as well. “Not yet.” he said in a quiet, controlled voice.   
“Do you..do you have a plan?” she asked again, her eyes darting up and down.   
“We don't know what the Reapers want, but what we can assume is that they will be targeting key objectives, like spaceports and such. So..”   
“But from what we know, with the batarians they just targeted people. Theirs is not traditional warfare.” Solana interrupted him.   
Galverus stayed silent for a moment, then said:”You might have a point. But if they're really targeting people, they'll want to keep us together, not let us spread. Protecting evacuation points is still our number one priority.”.  
“Very well. We head to the landing pads near the District's school. They're using the school rendez-vous point to concentrate civilians and monitor evacuation.” she was surprised to hear herself say.   
Even though she served just one tour, military training had left an unexpectedly strong imprint. “Agreed. Do you have your omnitool, in case we get separated? We must be able to keep in contact.” her father said, without peeling his eyes away from the window.   
Gunfire was getting close. “Yes, we can use our usual channel. Let's go.”.

As they made their way slowly and carefully towards the school, Solana kept thinking about how quickly she had shifted from scared office worker, unable to tie a strap to her boot, to the focused, collected individual who was now darting from cover to cover, watching her father's six.   
It must have been having a tangible goal, and a plan. After all, planning and logistics were a part of her daily life.   
Were, yes.   
“I must be mad! I'm a civilian, going to shoot at an unknown enemy. I haven't held a gun in year. I'm not wearing any armor. I'm a civilian. I must be mad.” said the sensible, realistic voice in her head.   
But a second voice awoke inside, and it sounded a little like her old drill sergeant:”There is no such thing as a turian civilian.”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God it's been so long! I didn't expect it to be so hard to pick up a story after leaving it lying around for months. Well. My bad. I hope you like it people!

**Author's Note:**

> The name I've decided to use for Garrus's and Solana's father is the one MsWikit used in her amazing story "Sins of the father". It sounded perfect and it's now my official headcanon for Mr Vakarian. I regret nothing.


End file.
